For Plague Inc addicts only (ie, nothing to do with the usual stuff on my blog!)
I'm loving playing Plague Inc. by Ndemic Creations (on my tablet) ~ I progressed to Mega Brutal last weekend and wrapped all seven main ones up in a few days (suffering arm and wrist ache, it has to be said...). I found Fungus the hardest, so it's my favourite. I'm not a huge fan of computer games, but this one is brilliant.
For anyone who is struggling with it, here's how I destroyed the world with Bacteria on Mega Brutal. There are probably tons of other ways of doing it, but this is the way I got there:
I've
found the best place to start Bacteria
is Egypt, though India is not bad.
If
you have the option (which presumably you have, if you've got to this stage), modify with the following:
DNA
Genes: Cytochrome Surge
Travel
Genes: Aquacyte
Evolution
Genes: Patho-Stasis
Mutation
Genes: Genetic Mimic
Environment
Genes: Extremophile
Start!
Obviously there's no guarantee that you'll win it first time with this - it depends on the order the countries get hit, for one thing, and you might want to modify it slightly, but this is the sequence by which I've extinguished humanity a couple of times :)
First,
you need to protect your plague from run of the mill anti-biotics, so as soon
as you have 11 DNA points, activate Drug
Resistance (DR) 1. Next, get it
spread around. You've already given sea travel a boost with Aquacyte, so go
for Air 1. As this might take your plague into rich
countries with better developed medical facilities like the USA, the UK, Spain
or Australia, the next thing you need is DR
2. This will take 25 points, but be
patient, don't be tempted to use them for something else.
Around
now, your plague might evolve a random symptom.
Devolve it immediately, because any symptoms will alert people to the
plague's existence, and the cure will begin earlier. Throughout the game, devolve any symptoms that don't help along your chosen path, as you can get refunded points.
Your
next priorities should be:
Water 1
Cold Resistance (CR) 1
Genetic Hardening (GH) 1
Why?
If your plague is travelling to colder countries, it needs to be hardened to
the environment. You also need to get it
travelling around countries without airports.
Around this time, though, you will get the message that the plague is
'More infectious than TB', followed by 'More infectious than HIV'. These signal that, any time now, it's going
to be discovered. You need your 7 points
for GH 1 immediately it is discovered.
The order in which you activate the three above features may vary,
depending on the game's progress, but getting GH1 as soon as work starts on the cure is all important.
Now
it's a race against time!
Get GH2 as early as possible; these two
really do slow down the cure, giving you more leeway. This is
important! Next, you will need:
Air 2
Water 2
CR 2.
While
you're getting these, the cure will be progressing, and you'll be tempted to get
some Genetic Reshuffles (GReshuf). It's best to leave these until the cure is at
least 50% ready, as they are more effective then. If you use them early, the cure progress only
goes down a few per cent, but if you use them later it can be as much as 10 or
12 per cent.
You
need CR2 in order for the plague to
infect and carry on infecting in Greenland and Scandinavia, and it doesn't hurt
Russia and Canada, either. Air 2 gives it all a real boost, but
you usually need Water 2 for the
Phillipines, the Carribean and Greenland, though I have got them without on
occasion.
The
final Air and Water one, Extreme Bioaerosol, is tempting but should not be
necessary - and it costs 23 points you will need elsewhere.
When
about half the world is infected, you need to introduce the symptoms. I find that Coughing and Pneumonia are
the most effective for infection, and also they lead to Pulmonary Fibrosis and then to Total
Organ Failure - and I believe Total Organ Failure to be essential for
winning any of the games on Mega-Brutal.
While
you're getting the five essentials above, you will, of course, need to curtail
the cure with GReshuf 1. Use your skill and judgement to decide on the
order! The points should be going crazy
by now, and you'll be popping blue bubbles all over the place, too.
If,
during this time, your plague evolves any random symptoms, devolve them if it
means getting a DNA point refunded. If
it doesn't, don't bother. If it's one of
those on the path towards Total Organ Failure, that's a bonus -
but if it gives you TOF itself,
you'll probably lose the game as it will kill everyone off too soon, before the
whole world is infected.
You
know you've got a good chance of winning if your cure is under 50% and you have
around 100 points when the last human on earth is infected. Immediately
this happens, go to Transmissions
and devolve Air 2 and then Air 1, or Water 2 and Water 1. This will give you 3 more points. Then go to Abilities and devolve CR2 and then CR1 - 3 more points.
You
now have your maximum points - but the cure may be getting dangerously high
now. If it's over 75%, activate GReshuf 2.
Before
you do anything else, get Pulmonary
Fibrosis and Total Organ Failure. As soon as you get TOF, the deaths will start
piling up, and the points will roll over non-stop. You may have to get GReshuf 3 or increase the deaths first. It's likely that the cure will reach over
90%. If you haven't got enough points
to get GReshuf 4 (it's unlikely you
will have enough, to be honest), go to Symptoms
and get Coma and Paralysis - these will take the cure
progress back from that dangerous 97%, to under 90 - and by the time it gets
back over 90, so many of the countries will be in total anarchy that cure
research will have ground to a virtual halt, and you'll be able to watch
humanity get destroyed at your leisure.
Blood
pressure raising stuff!
If
you're like me, you might like to add a few more symptoms just for the hell of it, points allowing -
I'm rather fond of Seizures and Insanity.
Watch out:
Don't
be swayed by the 'festival of kissing' notification - I reckon it's just there to get
you to waste points! Don't get panicky
over the ones about air filters and water filters on planes and ships - they
can be dealt with when you're ready.
You
don't need any cows or birds or rats, or anything else, if you do it this way.
Always
devolve symptoms before the plague is noticed.
Don't
be tempted to add a lot of things like sneezing to make it more infectious.
Ignore
the Bacterial Resilience - it's not
as effective as Air, Water and CR.
For more info about the game, click on the Ndemic Creations link at the top - he's on Twitter, too: @NdemicCreations
It's available on Android, iOS, Xbox One, PC
(I have not been paid to promote this game and have no connection with the makers of it, by the way - it's just a great game.)
